The Yushui District People’s Court in Xinyu found all three defendants guilty of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. Liu and Wei were also found guilty of “gathering a crowd to disrupt public order in a public space” and “using an evil cult to undermine law enforcement”.

The Xinyu verdicts are the harshest reported so far in a nationwide crackdown on the New Citizens Movement that started last year.

[…] Local authorities in Xinyu have long considered the three “thorns in their eyes”, said Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The local authorities have essentially used the current crackdown as an opportunity,” she said. [Source]

The court changed the charge from “illegal assembly” to the more heavy charge of “picking quarrels and creating troubles” six months after the trial and just days before the sentencing. This sudden change meant that Liu Ping’s lawyers, Si Weijiang and Yang Xuelin, were only informed of the date of the sentencing two days in advance. This violates the legal requirement of three days’ advance notice, and forced the lawyers to be absent at the sentencing due to other court appearances. [Source]

Local supporters of Ms. Liu, Mr. Li and Mr. Wei were being rounded up and, in one case, kidnapped off the street the same evening the sentencing date was announced, according to the husband of one supporter. That repeated a pattern throughout the trial at the Yushui District People’s Court of potential witnesses for the accused being “taken off the streets” by officials just before they were scheduled to testify, Ms. Liu’s daughter, Liao Minyue, said in a voice message.

According to a text message from the husband of one such supporter, Liu Xizhen: “A little past nine” on Tuesday evening, “Xizhen and I came back from a stroll on the street and she was suddenly kidnapped by Fu Xiaogang (workplace head) and Zhou Hongbing (a deputy manager)” — his wife’s superiors at work — “and a bunch of unknown men. They stopped me from taking pictures and they grabbed Liu, shoved her into the car and went away.” [Source]